The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-04-22

relief for widows and orphans, and for mo
incapacitated by sickness or accident fror
earning a livelihood Had II not bccn for tn
large number OF secret labor organizations 4
8 this country monopoly would long ago have
under its ponderous wheels, ground tho labor
Ing classes into an intolerablc servitude. tn
mon who want tho whole earth to thcmselve
would have got 1t before this, had 1t not beel
I for the banding together Of great secre
organizations. Ard, while we deploro man!
things that have been done by them, thei
existence Is necessity, and their legitimat.
, sphere distinctly pointed out by the providence
Of God. Such organizations are trying Il
dismiss from their association all members II
favor OF anarchy and social chaos. They will
gradually cease anything like tyranny ovel
} their members and will forbid violent inter
ference with any mans work whether lie be
longs to their union or is outside of it, and
will declare their disgust with any such rule
rs that passed in England by the Manchester
Bricklayers' association, which says any mar
found running or working beyond regular
speed shall lie fined two shillings and sixpence
for the first offense, five shillings for the
second, ten shillings for the third, and il still
persistihg shall be dealt with as the com.
mittee think proper. There arc secret socie-
ties in our colleges that have letters of the
Greek alphabet for their nomenclature, and
their members are at the very front in
scholarship and irreproachable in morals,
while there are others the scene Of carousal,
and they gamble, and they drink, and they
graduate knowing hundred times more
about sin than they do Of geometry and
Eophocles. In other words, secret societies,
like individuals, are good or bad, are the
means of moral health or Of temporal and
eternal damnation. All good people recog-
nize the vice Of slandering an individual but
many do not see the sin Of slandering an
organization.
There are old secret societies in this and
other countries, some Of them centuries old,
which have been widely denounced as i'm
moral and damaging in their influence, yet
have hundreds of personal friends who be-
long to them, friends who are consecrated to
God, pillars in the church, faithful in all re-
lations of life, examples of virtue and piety.
They are the kind of friends whom would
have for my executors if am so happy as to
leave anything for my household at the time
Of decease, and they are the men whom I
would have to carry me out to the last sleep
lieve that they would belong to bad institu-
tions They are the men who would stamp
on anything iniquitous, and I would GER
tainly rather take their testimony in regard
to such societies than the testimony of those
who, having been sworn in as members, by
their assault upon the society confess them
selves perjurers. One of these secret societies
gave for the relief of the sick in 1878, in this
country, 81 ,49O,274. Some Of these societies
have poured very heaven of sunshine and
benediction into the home of suffering
Several of them are founded on fidelity to
good citizenship and the Bible. have never
taken one of their degrees. They might give
me the grip 1000 times and I would not
recognize it. l am ignorant of their pass
words, and must judge entirely from the
outside. But Christ has given us rule by
which we may judge not only all individuals.
but all societies, secret and open. "By their
fruits ye shall know them" Bad societies
make bad men. Good societies make good
men. A bad man will not stay in good |
society. A good man will not stay in bad |
society. Then try all secret societies by two
or three rules
Test the first Their influence on home, If
you have a home That wife soon loses her
influence over her husband who nervously
and foolishly looks upon all evening absence
as an assault on domesticity. How are the
great enterprises of reform, and art, and
literature, and beneAcence and public veal
to be carried on il every man Is to have his
world bounded on one side by his front door
step, and ON the other side by his back win
dow, knowing nothing higher than his own
attic or lower than his own cellar? That
wife who becomes jealous of her husbands
attention to art or literature or religion or
charity is breaking her own scepter Of con-
jugal power. know an instance where
wife thought that her husband was giving too
many nights to Christian service, 70 charita-
BILE service, to prayer meetings, and to re-
ligious convocation. She systematically de-
coyed him away until now he attends no
church, waits upon no charitable institution,
and is on a rapid way to destruction, his
morals gone, his money gone, and I fear his
soul gone. Let any Christian wife rejoice
when her husband consecrates evenings to the
service of humanity, and of God, or charity,
Or art, or anything elevating.
But let no man sacrifice home life to secret
society life, as many do can point out to
you a great many names Of men who are
guilty of this sacrilege They are as genial
as angels at the society room, and as ugly as
sin at home. They are generous on all sub
jects of wine suppers, yachts and fast horses,
but they are stingy about the wives dresses
and the children's shoes. That man has made
chat which might be healthful influence
lsurper of his affections, and he has married
it, and he is guilty of moral bigamy. Under
This process the wife, whatever her features,
uninteresting and homely. He be-
comes critical of her, does not like the dress,
Ices not like the way she arranges her hair,
S amazed that he ever was so unromantic as
20 offer her hand and heart There are secret
societies where membership always involves
domestic shipwreck. Tell me that man has
oined certain kind, and tell me nothing
more about him for ten years, and I will
write his history if he be still alive. Them
S wine guzzler, his wife broken hearted or
old, his fortune gone or reduced,
md his home a mere name in directory.
Here are six secular nights in the week.
What shall do with themT says the father
md the husband. ~ will give four Of these
lights to the improvement and entertain
nent of my family, either at home or in good
will devote one to charitable
I will devote one tn NV lo.ipe -